Backlash
by UnknownTitans
Summary: ONESHOT - Sequel to "Losing Her" - Taking a man's life is more than just a mistake to Robin


**Author's Note:**

As the description states, this story is a sequel to my previous story " **Losing Her** " so please go back and read that before proceeding with this story. Thanks and enjoy the story.

* * *

The beams of light pierced through the large window pane at the side of the otherwise dark room, the sun had just began to raise its head over the horizon of the bay and the city surrounding the small island was already busy with life moving back and forth in their normal day to day activities. None of them were any of the wiser of the event that had transpired only two nights ago. Robin lifted a pile of his clothes out the wardrobe and laid them neatly in a large suitcase before going back and retrieving another pile.

This had to be done, things could never go back to the way they were before. He had made mistakes in the past but this wasn't something that could be so easily forgotten, he had took a life without even a second thought and doing so he had broken his highly respected and highly maintained code. He was lucky that the police thought it was a knife wound that had been used to kill the crook. They wrote off the murder so quickly, thugs like him got their karma sooner or later and so to the police this was a simple case, Robin didn't see it as that. He had spent hours the following morning researching the crook, he was a Mr Tony Gonzales, he wasn't married but he had a girlfriend and the two seemed, from their pictures, to be very happy together. The more Robin researched the man the worse it made him feel, this guy had barely any previous crimes and seemed to have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time and was following the orders of the wrong type of person, he must have fired the gun out of sheer panic and a birdarang to the chest was his punishment.

The others wouldn't even look at him after they got back that night and to be honest he didn't blame them, he didn't even want to look at himself that night. He had concerned himself completely with keeping Starfire safe and making sure that she would be alright. It was the only thing holding him together and after Raven had told him that she would be okay his walls had begun to collapse around him and he knew that they weren't going to stop. He had been fortunate that there hadn't been an alert since the incident because he wasn't sure he could continue to act as a leader after what he had done. The change in the others personalities around him were evident from the beginning, Cyborg and Beast Boy stopped with any kind of jokes and would just greet him with a nervous smile and a few words before silence would fall on the normally noisy tower. Raven seemed more concerned than anything, she was spending a lot more time by his side and initiating conversations. He had brought a wedge between him and his team and he didn't know if he could ever connect with them again.

All of the things he would need to go back to Gotham were packed, his civilian clothes, his uniforms, his equipment…..his breath hitched as he noticed what he had left on the desk. He walked over to the desk and lifted up the small photograph frame, it was a small wooden frame with a picture of him and Starfire stood in the snow, Starfire's smile as bright as ever. His chest hurt as he looked at the picture, the last thing he wanted to do was to leave Starfire but he knew when she woke up she would feel the same as the others. He smiled sadly as he lifted up the picture and placed it on top of his clothes. He lifted the suitcase and made his way to the door.

* * *

"You can't just go man!" Beast Boy cried

"I have to" Robin replied solemnly

"No you don't Rob. You'll get over what happened" Cyborg stated firmly

"It's not me that I worry won't get over it…."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven interjected

Robin chuckled sadly "Come on, Cyborg and Beast Boy won't even make eye contact with me anymore" he paused as he saw the look of guilt on the two boy's faces "and Raven is monitoring me like I'm a ticking time bomb waiting to go off"

Raven sighed "What about Starfire? Are you just going to leave her like this?"

Robin's eyes directed at Starfire's room a few doors down from where they were stood "She won't be able to look at me either after she finds out what happened" he paused looking at them all sadly "I lost the right to being your leader when I threw that birdarang. I won't make you guys follow orders when I am willing to break them myself" he lifted up his bag "I'm sorry guys….I failed you" he finished as he stepped into the elevator and the doors closed after him.

"We can't just let him go like this!" Cyborg demanded

"We have to…." Raven replied with a deep sigh "he's not been okay since that night and he might never be. Letting him go might give him a chance to forget…."

Beast Boy looked like a kicked puppy "Yeah… I guess you're right Rae…"

* * *

Starfire rose from her bed with a start, her head was spinning and she was having trouble focusing on anything, Robin, gunshot, friends, blood. All of these thoughts were whirling around in her head. She frantically reached out her hand and began to probe where the gunshot wound was, she found that it was healed over and in its place was a smooth scar. She sighed in relief and sat up on the bed, she was unsure how long she had been asleep for but due to the fact that all of her muscles had seized up she presumed it must have been a while. She took a few calming breaths before trying to focus on remembering what had happened, she remembered that she was with Robin and then there was a loud noise and she had been shot. Her memories seemed to be focused on the frantic face of Robin, she needed to speak to him.

She hovered off of her bed and made her way quickly towards Robin's room. She knocked lightly on the door "Robin?" she gave a few more knocks before she noticed that the door wasn't locked, she cautiously opened the door and gasped at the almost empty room in front of her. The wardrobes were cleared out and rest of the room had appeared to be cleared as well. She started to panic, had something happened to Robin and she was just unable to remember it? She made a bolt for the common room and rocketed through the doors.

"Where is Robin?" she asked frantically

Beast Boy turned around and stared in surprise "Star! You're awake" the others were alerted to the alien's presence and Raven rushed over to her as she scanned her

"Are you feeling alright Starfire?" Raven asked

"I believe I am sufficiently healed, now please. Why is Robin's room empty and why is he not here?" She asked in confusion

Cyborg stepped forwards sadly and placed his hand on the alien girl's shoulder as she lowered to the ground "Robin left, Star"

Starfire blinked in surprise "Robin would not leave"

"We're not lying Star, he really did leave" Beast Boy added sadly

Starfire was about to demand another answer before Raven interrupted "You've been asleep for a few days Star whilst you healed. Robin, he…..the guy that shot you…Robin killed him"

Starfire gasped and shook her head expressively "Robin would not murder someone!"

"We don't think he meant to kill him, out of instinct he must have thrown a birdarang and when we found you two….the guy was already dead" Cyborg elaborated

"Then he has been arrested?" Starfire asked in a panic

"No, the cops presumed the guy was just killed by some other thug wielding a knife. They haven't suspected anything else" Raven explained

Starfire's eyes were beginning to water "Then why has Robin left?"

Raven sighed sadly "Ever since that night with what happened to you and then murder on his conscience. It's not been good for Robin, he wouldn't speak to any of us and we would find him late at night researching information about the guy. I could tell for a while that his mind was beginning to deteriorate due to the stress but nothing I could do could help him" she placed her hand on Starfire's shoulder "He packed up his things and left a few hours ago. He said he couldn't be a leader anymore, knowing what he did"

Starfire couldn't believe what she was hearing, Robin had left? She gulped and tried to steady her voice "Where would he have gone?"

Everyone shrugged in response "Probably back to Gotham I guess, I don't think he wanted to stay in Jump" Cyborg answered

"Then we shall track him using his communicator" Starfire replied with determination as she turned away from them and began to tamper with her communicator

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea Star. I don't think Robin wants to be followed" Cyborg replied nervously.

Starfire turned her head slightly around and Cyborg almost recoiled at how miserable she looked as tears began to leak down her face "I must speak with him"

Cyborg nodded slowly and began to tap at the console on his arm "He's at the airfield, north hanger" Within seconds Starfire had shot past him and up onto the roof before launching herself towards the sky. "I'll get the T-Car started"

"I think we should let Star handle this one" Beast Boy replied "she can get through to Robin better than any of us can"

Cyborg and Raven nodded solemnly and returned to their previous activities

* * *

The rain barrelled down from the dark storm clouds above, the droplets pelted the hangar roof above him as Robin stood at the entrance waiting for the plane that would be taking him back home, he didn't deserve to call the tower home anymore. He noticed a vibration coming from his pocket and he reached in and retrieved his phone "Hello?"

"The plane will be arriving within the next two hours Master Dick. Are you sure you wish to return?" the kindly voice of Alfred asked

Robin sighed deeply "I don't want to leave Alfred, I just don't have a choice at the moment"

"I am sure your team will be able to look past this 'mishap' Master Dick"

"A person's life isn't a mishap Alfred!" Robin replied with a shout, he covered his eyes with his other hand "Sorry Alfred, I didn't mean to yell at you"

"It is quite alright Master Dick" the old butler sighed "The man you killed was attempting to murder your friend, correct?"

"….Yeah, Starfire"

"Then it seems fair to say that the only reason you retaliated was to keep Miss Starfire alive was it not?"

"Yeah"

"Then please stop titling yourself as a murderer Master Dick. If the lives of you or Master Bruce were on the line I would not hesitate to do what is needed to keep you safe and it seems that you follow my same line of reasoning"

"Thanks Alfred, I just need some time away to help think"

"Very well Master Dick, I shall call you again when the plane is nearing arrival" The butler replied as he hung up the call.

* * *

Robin thought over what his friends would be doing right now, he presumed Cyborg and Beast Boy would be playing games together whilst Raven would be reading. Starfire would still be resting and it would still be a while be a while before she would have to discover what had transpired. Before he had even processed what had happened a green glow had appeared in front of him as the alien raced towards him.

"Robin! Thank X'hal you have not left yet!" The alien cried as she threw her arms around the boy

Robin wanted nothing more than to squeeze the living daylights out of the girl but he just couldn't do it, the others probably didn't tell her and she wouldn't feel the same about him after she learned. "You shouldn't be here Starfire, you should be resting"

Starfire loosened her grip at the shock of him using her full name, it had been years since he had called her that, "Robin? You are not pleased to see me?" she asked as tears began to well up in her eyes

"You should be with the Titans Star"

"As should you Robin…."

"I don't deserve to be part of the team anymore…..Star, I did something really bad"

"You killed the man who shot me, in order to protect me" she stated

He stared at her dumbstruck "You knew and yet you still came here?"

Starfire was slightly confused "Of course I did Robin. Now we must return to the tower" she said as she grabbed his hand and began to try and lead him out of hangar

"I can't…I have to go" he said sadly

Starfire spun around quickly her cheeks suddenly wet with tears "No. You do not have to go anywhere. You were going to leave without even saying goodbye"

"I can't stay here Star. How can I expect the team to follow my rules when I can't even follow them myself?"

"Then I will go with you to wherever you are going" she replied determined

"The Titans need you, Star"

"But I need you, Robin" she replied with a sob

"What do you mean?"

"When I told you that I loved you I was not doing the making of it up"

Robin smiled in return "Neither was I" he said kissing her softly on the lips

Starfire wrapped her arms around Robin's neck as she eagerly kissed back, by the time she released him he was gasping for oxygen.

"If you believe that you need to go somewhere for a while in order to do the 'clearing of your head' then I will be coming with you, regardless of objection"

Robin chuckled lightly "I guess I can't argue with that" he reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone before dialling a number "Alfred, tell the pilot I'll be bringing a guest"

 **The End**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Hope you enjoyed this sequel, it is wrote in 3rd person as opposed to 1st person like "Losing Her" because it made more sense for the story considering it uses 2 perspectives instead of just 1.

It's funny how without aiming for it I somehow made another doorway into the "Moving Forward" timeline. They aren't connected in any way but I guess this could have been a replacement for "Does It Have To Be Goodbye?"

Please review and let me know what you thought of it. I am open to doing sequels of my other stories if you are interested in them, just let me know and ill consider doing it.

 **Next Story:** More on "Moving Forward" because holy shit it's been a month since I last updated it, I had no idea it had been that long. So look forward to that very soon!


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